What's For Dinner ?

Just spotted this thread... Like others, I've gone through stages with food. Pasta used to be a big fallback for "too tired to cook" nights, and hubby and I really enjoy it, but our only offspring still at home has started complaining about it, so the fettucini is languishing in the pantry.

Current big backstop is a Chinese Master Stock. You make a spicy stock and add wine, soy sauce and something sweet (honey, sugar) then cook your meat in it. The counterintuitive thing is, then you strain the stock and put it in the fridge to use again... and again... and again... It needs to be boiled every 3-4 days so that pathogens can't grow in it, and it gets richer and yummier over time. You add extra spices and other ingredients regularly to keep the flavour ticking along.

Over time I've been experimenting a bit more with the stock, because it's proven to be very hard to "spoil" it. Recently I added a whole tin of apricot nectar to it and poached a whole chicken for Apricot Chicken. Worked well. Yesterday I cooked some borlotti beans in it, and they taste like baked beans, but not so tomato-ey. I'm thinking of adding a small dash of tomato sauce to some of those and having them on toast for lunch. Nyummm....

Wow @Smc

Hello @Faith-and-Hope, @barely, @soul, @Former-Member

yes sure does @Faith-and-Hope, @Former-Member, @Smc

@Faith-and-Hope@Shaz51@Former-Member

You're not far wrong. In the days before refrigeration (which is still nowadays in some parts of China) it would have been used daily to keep the bugs at bay, and may have been kept constantly simmering except for occasionally straining it through a cloth or fine sieve. The alcohol, salt and sugar in it help to keep it from going toxic, but if there's solids left in the broth, particularly meat solids...uh oh.

There's stories of masterstocks that are decades old in China, and of chefs paying a five figure sum for a potful as their "starter". It's a technique that's been picked up by some western chefs too. Neil Perry has a masterstock for his Rockpool restaurant, and is enthusiastic about passing on the concept to others.

Inevitably, when I'm straining the stock to go back into the fridge, some gets on my fingers. Always, the reaction when I lick it off is "Oh nyum, that's good!".